8 notable places within an hour's drive.
photogenic
Castelluccio di Norcia
Hilltop hamlet at 1,452 m above the Piano Grande plateau, where lentil fields erupt into a patchwork bloom of red, blue and gold each June-July (La Fiorita). The drive up from Norcia across the karst plain is one of the Apennines' great reveals.
10 km · about 20 min drive
landmark
Norcia
A walled mountain town in Umbria celebrated as the birthplace of St. Benedict and as Italy's capital of black truffles.
17 km · about 20 min drive
cafe
Caffè Meletti
Art-nouveau café of 1907 on Ascoli Piceno's travertine Piazza del Popolo, home of the anisetta liqueur the Meletti family still distils. Hemingway and Sartre drank here; order the anisetta 'con la mosca', with a coffee bean afloat.
25 km · about 30 min drive
mountain pass
Campo Imperatore
A vast high-altitude plateau beneath the Gran Sasso peaks, an 'Little Tibet' drive in Abruzzo's national park.
43 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Spoleto
An ancient Umbrian town famous for its towering Roman aqueduct bridge, the Ponte delle Torri, and its annual arts festival.
46 km · about 55 min drive
waterfall
Cascata delle Marmore
A 165-meter man-made waterfall created by the ancient Romans in 271 BC, now one of Italy's most impressive cascades.
53 km · about 60 min drive
landmark
Santo Stefano di Sessanio
Medici-era stone village on the edge of the Campo Imperatore plateau, restored as a scattered 'albergo diffuso' after near-abandonment. Its lanes, tower and candle-lit cellars sit at 1,250 m in the Gran Sasso national park.
55 km · about 65 min drive
castle
Rocca Calascio
A ruined hilltop fortress at one of Italy's highest castle sites, surveying the Apennine peaks of Abruzzo.
58 km · about 65 min drive